Originally Posted by
laurie6781 
Not giving medical advice, but would like to ask who diagnosed your mom? And have you had more than one opinion?
Even though she has and is still drinking, there is also a form of Alzheimers that is 'early onset' as in hitting the person in their late 40's to early 50's.
If no second or third opinions have been checked out, it might be a good thing to do, as then you could apply for SSI or SSDI if she worked in her earlier years. And with a diagnosis of Alzheimers you would be able to get her placed in a home that has a section for Alzheimer patients (very secure). And SS would pay for the home.
Just a thought. It might ease a lot of the stress you are feeling at this time.
Please keep posting and let us know how YOU are doing as we do care very much.
Love and hugs,
I'm nervous about saying who, just because giving my location and stuff could give away my identity, but what are the odds anyone will go looking? So I'll tell you.
On the brain tissue thing, she was diagnosed by the neurological unit in Shands hospital in Gainesville in 2007. A blood vessel burst in her brain. I had discussed the alcohol use (it was a bottle of vodka a day) with the dr's while she was unconcious to see if she could maybe get some help while there.They told me there findings as far as the brain tissue being damaged and aged. They directly said it was due to the alcohol. She got out 3 weeks later and told me she quit drinking. I believed her.
Everything was fine until June 2009. She went to Flagler hopsital in st augustine for extremely high blood pressure as well as severe anxiety and paranoia. That was my first clue something was really wrong, as she confessed she believed her dead boyfriends and husband were "haunting her". I voiced my concerns to the hopsital staff and was dismissed.
They kept her for a week, was able to get her blood pressure down, ran extensive tests. No mention of her liver, they diagnosed it as being high blood pressure. She was released. I was living in another area at the time and went home. There were a lot of odd phone calls and behavior after that, then other times she seemed normal.
In February 2010 she was Baker acted. I recieved calls from several of her friends who swore she had not been drinking and the police just took her because she would not answer her door. This time I was never able to get any information and had to get an attorney to even find out where she was. They kept her for a month. This time I also called DCF and they conducted an investigation, of course wouldn't tell me anything but advised me that she would do better living closer to me. Once released, my mother swore she had not been drinking but did sign power of attorney and preselected guardian papers to me so if anything like that ever happened again, I'd be able to find her.
I started visiting her frequently and bringing her to the town where I lived for visits. No sign anything was wrong, until July 2010. Very odd behavior and I swore I smelled alcohol on her. She denied it, and I believed her. I took her home. 2 days later, my phone was ringing off the hook. She had been wandering down the road during the day, wandering through the woods at night, gone to the bar and had conversations with people who weren't there, etc. At that point one of her friends confessed to me she had been drinking all along and they lied to cover her. I called the sheriff's office and she was Baker acted again. She was sent to a psychiatric facility but fainted a short time later. She was then sent to Shands, where they found her blood pressure was at stroke level. They also told me she was hallucinating. This time, I knew she was drinking, and told them. I also told them about her 2007 incident and the damage they found to her brain tissue. They told me they doubted the alcohol caused it (even though this is the SAME hospital that told me about the tissue damage). They said her blood alcohol level was "almost nothing". Clearly if it was "almost", she had some. By this time I had been struggling with my own drinking, had found this forum and knew about acute alcohol withdrawal. I asked about it and was waved off. She was kept for a week and released.
I moved back down into my house across the street from her about 2 months later. I found then, she was drinking all the time and she stopped trying to hide it. She went through weird phases of hallucination, making weird accusations, etc. Then in December, she went through a phase of threatening and harassing people. I finally called the sheriff's office and 6 people gave statements. She was Baker acted again and got into a physical fight with the police when they took her. 24 hours later she was home. I got no info this time either. When she got home, she seemed not not remember anything that happened. Just told me the police had hurt her and she was going to the bar to get some vodka to help with the aches and pains.
The first couple of months after she was released, she went on and off acting weird then acting normal.Now she is never normal. She hears voices, talks to people who aren't there (and acts like she does not see people who are). I can't get her to go to a doctor at all. I am going back to an attorney to see what can be done.
Money is not the problem. She has insurance, and a VA check every month from her 2nd husband. The problem is getting her into somewhere and correctly diagnosed. Clearly they have not been right thus far, this cannot all be her blood pressure. I think the insurance would pay for a nursing home, but I need to get her diagnosed as NEEDING a nursing home.